The World Cup kicks off with Group A as Mexico faces South Africa at the Estadio Azteca on Thursday afternoon. El Tri will be slight favorites to top the group that also includes South Africa, South Korea and Czechia, though it seems to be a relatively even quartet.
The Post previews Group A at the World Cup.
Teams listed in predicted order of finish. * indicates third-place team predicted to advance to the knockout stage.
South Africa
Odds to win group: 12/1
What you need to know: Hugo Broos, a Belgian native, has managed Bafana Bafana since 2021, leading them to a third-place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2023 and a quarterfinal in 2025. The 2025 result was considered highly disappointing, and Broos had to apologize for comments about defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi and his agent, saying of the player, “I can assure you, he is a Black guy, but he will come out of my room as a white guy,” while calling the agent a “little woman … who thinks she knows football.” He apologized, but the damage was done.
How they play: Much of South Africa’s core comes from Mamelodi Sundowns, the South African Premiership side that won the league every year from 2018 to 2026. They play an aesthetically pleasing, technical style out of a 4-3-3 that’s fun to watch, but a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 defeat in two games against Panama in March were considered alarming results, and AFCON was not a great showing. Still, the path looks open for South Africa to reach the knockout stage for the first time in its history, which would be a strong result.
Star player: Oswin Appollis, a 24-year-old midfielder who plays for Orlando Pirates in South Africa, has put up excellent scoring numbers for the national team for the past couple of years. Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, though, might be their best overall player, with strong shot-stopping and distribution ability.
World Cup history: Banned under its apartheid regime, South Africa played in its first World Cup in 1998 and qualified for the fourth time in its history in 2026. It has never gotten past the group stage, and has two wins in history at the competition — against Slovenia in 2002 and against France in 2010. Siphiwe Tshabalala’s 2010 goal against Mexico in the opening game of the competition on home soil stands as the biggest highlight in South Africa’s history at the competition.
Mexico
Odds: -125
What you need to know: The March window was a tad messy for Mexico, with a slew of injuries and the death of a fan at the reopened Estadio Azteca overshadowing a pair of decent results against Portugal and Belgium. Javier Aguirre has tried to impose a quick, aggressive style on the team, but that hasn’t always translated. The midfield, with 17-year-old star Gilberto Mora, Edson Álvarez, Obed Vargas and Álvaro Fidalgo, is this team’s strength. The center-back duo of Johan Vásquez and César Montes looks fairly solid as well, though there are questions at fullback.
How they play: Aguirre, who managed Mexico at the 2002 and 2010 World Cups, tends to set up his team in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1. He wants his team to be quick in transition, though Mexico has struggled to translate that given its last manager, Tata Martino, was more defensive in nature. Aguirre’s side scored wins at the 2025 Nations League and 2025 Gold Cup, beating the U.S. in the final of the latter.
Star player: Mexico’s attack is considered a weak spot, but paradoxically Fulham striker Raúl Jiménez might be El Tri’s best player. The 34-year-old will play at his fourth World Cup, though this is his first as his country’s top striker.
World Cup history: Since 1950, Mexico has qualified for all but three World Cups. From 1994-2018, it made the Round of 16 in every World Cup, but that streak was snapped in 2022, when it failed to make it out of the group stage in Qatar. Mexico has never made it past the quarterfinals, getting that far in 1986 — its last World Cup on home soil — and 1970.
South Korea*
Odds: +350
What you need to know: The buildup to this World Cup has been, um, not great. The switch to a 3-4-3 formation hasn’t produced results, and a 4-0 loss to Ivory Coast in March had fans calling for coach Hong Myung-bo’s job. Still, the core is talented, with plenty of players at top leagues in Europe including striker Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves), midfielder Kang-in Lee (PSG), defender Min-jae Kim (Bayern Munich) and midfielder Jae-sung Lee (Mainz). There’s plenty of potential, but fears of a crashout are very much in the air.
How they play: Great question. Though World Cup qualifying was a breeze, the experimentation since then — Hong switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3 — hasn’t gone too well, and there are questions about the team’s identity. Combine that with Hong’s last World Cup in charge of South Korea, a winless 2014 edition, and you see why there are some worries about this team.
Star player: Son Heung-Min, of course. That said, things are shakier around Son’s status in the national team than you might expect. Though he’s performed well in MLS, Hong didn’t give a straight answer in March when asked whether Son, the Tottenham legend, should continue to be an automatic starter, saying only, “It’s too early to discuss that.” Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine benching a player synonymous with Korean soccer.
World Cup history: South Korea can lay claim to being the most successful Asian nation at the World Cup, being the only one to reach a semifinal — doing so on home soil in 2002 — and having qualified every four years since 1986. The air was taken out of second-place finish in a tough Group H in 2022, in which passage to the knockout round was secured on Hwang’s stoppage-time winner against Portugal on the final matchday, by a 4-1 Round of 16 defeat to Brazil.
Czechia
Odds: +370
What you need to know: Czechia has a reputation for winning games with grit and grind. Denmark had 77 percent of the possession in their playoff final, but Czechia led 2-1 in extra time on defender Ladislav Krejcí’s goal before a Danish equalizer took the game to penalties. Words like resilience and motivation tend to show up often in descriptions of how they play.
How they play: Manager Miroslav Koubek was appointed last December after a loss to the Faroe Islands prompted the federation to sack Ivan Hasek. Koubek set up the team in a 3-4-3 in both playoff games after it had played with four at the back throughout qualifying, and the Czechs spent both games absorbing pressure. Without falling into cliché, let’s just say it’s difficult to see Czechia playing a lot of high-scoring games at the World Cup.
Star player: Striker Patrik Schick and midfielder Tomáš Soucek share the honors here. Schick is a strong finisher with multiple 20-goal seasons on his resume with Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Soucek, who generally lines up as a defensive midfielder for West Ham, was Czechia’s captain until Krejcí recently took the armband.
World Cup history: Czechia — which competed as part of Czechoslovakia prior to 1993 — has made it out of the group stage just twice since World War II, making it to the 1962 finals and the 1990 quarters. It qualified this year for the first time since 2006, when a highly talented group disappointed by failing to get out of its group (its sole win was over the United States). Getting this far took two gutsy UEFA playoff wins, both of which went to penalties.
Group A World Cup schedule
Mexico vs. South Africa, Thurs., June 11, 3 p.m., Mexico City
South Korea vs. Czechia, Thurs., June 11, 10 p.m., Guadalajara
Czechia vs. South Africa, Thurs., June 18, noon, Atlanta
Mexico vs. South Korea, Thurs., June 18, 3 p.m., Guadalajara
Mexico vs. Czechia, Wed., June 24, 9 p.m., Mexico City
South Korea vs. South Africa, Wed., June 24, 9 p.m., Monterrey
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
